The Pipe Smoker's Page

One of the more pleasant diversions I have is smoking my pipes. Most are purchased, some as you’ll see on this page I have made. I like variety in my pipe selection, there are free-hand pipes, an assortment of the typical shapes, and then there are my meerschaums. I’m fond of the big full bents I saw my Dad smoke when I was a kid, he had a Jumbo Wellington from Wm. DeMuth & Co. and smoked John Rolfe Peach Brandy tobacco in it. It was delightful. I’ve since added about 4 of the Jumbo Bents to my collection, as well as several of the ‘baby bents’ from WDC. As far as tobacco….well, there are some days when an English or Balkan blend is to my liking, other days it’ll be a top quality aromatic.

Here are a few of my pipes…..this is one I made from a South American hardwood,, it is Grenadilla wood. If you look closely at the stem you’ll see an inlay of a different hardwood, cocobolo. It doesn’t show up as well in the picture but that inlay is a much lighter yellow color. On the top of the bowl I shaped it a bit ‘keel-shaped’, between the two pictures perhaps you can see this. This pipe smokes very nicely.

My latest pipe I’ve made is this one...called “Chanunpa” in tribute to the Lakota Indian tribal story of the Sacred White Buffalo and the White Buffalo Calf Woman who taught the Seven Sacred Ceremonies and foretold of the White Buffalo. She left a bundle with a sacred pipe, called Chanunpa. Into this pipe I have inset conchos, two sides of a buffalo nickel...buffalo on one side, Indian head bust on the other. The briar is dyed using a yellow leather tanning dye. It is beautiful tight grain.

...and of course my Meerschaum pipes. I really enjoy these and have found that an occasional fresh waxing really helps develop the coloring. The first is a custom Altinok pipe, a King Tut Pharaoh design that is simply outstanding. I had asked Sinan Altinok about getting additional ornate carving done on the shank of the pipe….he delivered a beautifully carved pipe to my requests. Here it is:

One nice King Tut meerschaum huh?

The next one is a Victorian Lady, appropriately nicknamed “Vickie”

And then, the best of them all….a custom Sadik Yanik figural of one of the characters from the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie series Davy Jones This is a pretty big pipe as you can tell by my hand in the picture below. It is definitely NOT a clencher! Sadik Yanik’s webpage is at: http://www.syanik.com/

Personally, I think Mr. Yanik’s carvings are the best.

When you look at his webpage, take a close look at the

intricate details, look closely at his figural pipes like the

series of famous Native American Indians. His John Wayne

figural is an amazing rendition. You’ll recognize that these

pipes are truly artwork. Years from now, they’ll be collector

pieces for certain.